This invention relates to novel apparatus and gauges for testing characteristics of sand in or for golf course sand bunkers.
Each hole on a golf course comprises not only a teeing ground from which play is commenced and a green including the pin and hole which is the ultimate target, but usually also includes a fairway. Additionally, adjacent the fairway there is usually a region of rough, less improved terrain, and various hazards may exist in either the fairway or rough. The rough and such hazards are typically to be avoided by the golf player to maximize the opportunity of minimizing the number of strokes required to play a golf hole from tee to green.
The United States Golf Association, hereinafter USGA, Rules of Golf, 1998-1999, Rules 12 and 13, define a hazard as any bunker or water hazard. Those rules also specifically define xe2x80x9cbunkerxe2x80x9d as xe2x80x9ca hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand or the like.xe2x80x9d A bunker wherein turf or soil has been replaced with sand is typically called a sand bunker or sand trap. When a player""s ball lands in a sand bunker, USGA Rule 13-4 specifies that before making a stroke to attempt to play the ball from the hazard, the player is prohibited from (a) testing the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard, (b) touching the ground in the hazard with a club or otherwise, and (c) touching or moving a loose impediment lying in or touching the hazard. Thus, in seeking to play a ball with his club from a sand bunker, a golfer must play the ball as it lies, without testing or touching the sand before playing the ball.
A sand trap is unique among golf course hazards in that sand traps are typically highly maintained. Sand traps typically undergo a daily mechanical grooming or raking as a regular part of golf course maintenance, and divots and footprints are eliminated by raking after use by a player. Despite these attempts to maintain similar-conditions in a trap for every player, the condition of the sand at any specific location in any sand bunker, and particularly conditions from one bunker to another, even on the same course, may vary. And, there are no particular rules governing the nature of the sand or like material which may be present in a sand bunker. Thus, the characteristics of the sand in a sand bunker, and the condition of the sand at the particular location where a player""s ball comes to rest in a sand bunker, may vary greatly, making play from sand bunkers unpredictable.
The specific characteristics of sand in a sand bunker may include sand grain size, grain shape and the distribution of different grain sizes and shapes in a representative sample of sand in any bunker. Furthermore, the granular density and bulk density of the sand in a representative sample from any sand bunker may vary. Still further, other conditions such as the depth of the sand, its wetness or moisture content, and its compactness, that is hardness versus fluffiness, are further factors which may contribute to the unpredictability of play of a golf shot from a sand bunker.
While, in the past, some tests for sand consistency have been conducted in laboratories away from a particular sand bunker and the particular sand in any particular sand bunker, such tests have been for the purpose of attempting to assess the potential for an inbound golf ball to either bury itself or produce an inaccessible, so-called fried-egg, lie in such sand. There are no generally accepted objective methods for standardized field testing of sand in sand bunkers on golf courses.
However, experienced golfers will make equipment choices, such as selection of a sand wedge having a certain sole width and thus bounce properties, and certain choices concerning where to place the ball in the player""s stance, how open or closed to have the face of the sand wedge at impact with the ball, and how to swing the sand wedge, based upon the player""s understanding of the characteristics of the sand at or near the location where the player""s ball rests in a sand bunker. More accurate knowledge concerning the characteristics of the sand upon which the player""s ball lies would assist experienced sand players during practice sessions in more accurately making an appropriate club selection and in determining stance/ball location, club face position and swing strength in executing a sand shot from a particular lie in a particular sand trap. Thus, an objective method for standardized field testing of sand in golf course sand bunkers will be of great assistance to golfers in learning to execute sand shots.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-discussed problems and needs unsatisfied by the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sand gauge capable of measuring the relative softness or bulk density of sand at a given location in a golf course sand trap.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for measuring the resistance of the sand to a device being pressed into the sand of a golf course sand trap.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device for assisting a player in evaluating golf course sand trap sand conditions, for correlating practice shot techniques and the results thereof from such sand conditions.
Other objects and further features of the present invention are described hereafter in this specification.
In a first embodiment, an advantageous sand gauge of the present invention is constructed for measuring the relative softness or bulk density of sand in a golf course sand trap, wherein the device includes a tube with a blunted spike at the bottom thereof and a substantial weight in the top of the tube for release and fall down the tube, impacting the spike and driving the spike into the sand. The depth to which the spike is driven into the sand is a measure of the softness or bulk density of the sand.
In another embodiment, an advantageous sand gauge of the present invention comprises an outer housing wherein a combination probe shaft and gauge is mounted, and a spring is mounted for compression between the housing and the probe shaft to regulate load on the probe shaft. The device is used by pushing its lower probe end into the sand bunker sand being tested, and stop pushing the device toward the sand when the bottom of the outer housing contacts the sand, recording the probe displacement at that moment.